Did Hitler Have PTSD?

In my recent article Does PTSD Cause Terrorism? I discussed the relationship between PTSD and suicide bombers. But I think it would be remiss to leave out Western society from the equation. So I thought I’d look at a Western mass murderer. This will not be a dissertation. I’m not going to go all tl;dr on you. So lets start.

First off. What are the relevant symptoms of PTSD? Not all of them. Just the ones that address the topic at hand. The veterans Administration says:

Negative changes in beliefs and feelings

1. You may not have positive or loving feelings toward other people and may stay away from relationships.
3. You may think the world is completely dangerous, and no one can be trusted.

Feeling keyed up (also called hyperarousal)

1. You may have a hard time sleeping.

The symptoms have to last more than 3 months for the problem to be considered PTSD. In other words everybody is prone to get it short term after a traumatic event. I have covered it elsewhere, but I want to make the point again. PTSD is in part genetic. If you don’t have the genes you can’t get it.

Make The Connection has a list:

Feeling emotionally cut off from others

Feeling numb or losing interest in things you used to care about

Becoming depressed

Thinking that you are always in danger

Consider harming yourself or others

Having difficulty sleeping

Help Guide has some more:

Feeling detached from others and emotionally numb

Sense of a limited future (you don’t expect to live a normal life span, get married, have a career)

Difficulty falling or staying asleep

Irritability or outbursts of anger

Hypervigilance (on constant “red alert”)

New phobias and anxieties that seem unrelated to the trauma (such as a fear of monsters)

Irritability and aggression

One thing left out in the articles cited is suicidal thoughts. However, I covered that in my previous article cited above. And I probably should also note that besides war and other similar trauma PTSD can be caused by child abuse.

Well lets look at Hitler. The wiki on the subject covers the essentials.

In 2003, Theodore Dorpat, a resident psychiatrist in Seattle, published his book Wounded Monster in which he credited Hitler with complex post-traumatic stress disorder. He assumed that Hitler not only experienced war trauma, but – due to physical and mental abuse by the father and the parental failure of the depressed mother – chronic childhood trauma, too. Dorpat is convinced that Hitler showed signs of this disturbance already at the age of 11 years. Both traumas explain why Hitler were prepared neither for social nor for intellectual or professional aspirations. According to Dorpat, many of Hitler’s personality traits – such as his volatility, his malice, the sadomasochistic nature of his relationships, his human indifference and his avoidance of shame – can be traced back to trauma.[68]

In the same year, the above-mentioned German psychologist Manfred Koch-Hillebrecht, too, had come forward with the assumption that Hitler had posttraumatic stress disorder from his war experiences.

I think that the above is correct but it fails to give sufficient weight to the fact that his PTSD was already there from his childhood experiences with his abusive father.

Stephen A. Diamond has more details.

Dr. Murray points out that though there is very little information available about Hitler’s childhood, he is said to have been sickly and frail. His father was described as “tyrranical” and physically abusive. According to psychoanalyst Michael Stone, Hitler’s father reportedly beat both Adolf and his older brother with a whip regularly, meting out daily whippings to the more rebellious Adolf, who, by the time he turned 11, “refused to give his father the satisfaction of crying, even after 32 lashes.” Here we can begin see how Hitler as a young boy was overpowered by his father and confronted with a situation he could not control, except by controlling his own emotions and actions

He goes on:

Hitler, like so many victims of physical or sexual abuse during childhood, may have experienced an extraordinary sense of helplessness and powerlessness as a boy, stemming mainly from his poor relatonship with his exceedingly domineering and controlling father.

And:

It is known now that Hitler suffered not only from chronic anxiety, but also insomnia and related somatic symptoms similar to what we today might call irritable bowel syndrome. Once in power, he maintained a very close relationship with his personal physician, who helped manage the Fuehrer’s anxiety symptoms with numerous medications, many of which were highly unorthodox, and are said to have included both sedating barbiturates and stimulating amphetamine on which Hitler came to depend.

Insomnia is a symptom of PTSD as is excessive drug use.

As Fuehrer, Hitler’s neuroses persisted and probably worsened, taking the form at times of intense episodes of “emotional collapse” characterized by violent bouts of furious screaming and crying. Indeed, Dr. Murray accurately identifies Hitler’s characterological core of hatred, rage and resentment as the “mainspring” of his career, describing him diagnostically as a borderline paranoid schizophrenic and hysterical “megalomaniac.” Indeed, it can be argued that perhaps the major component of Hitler’s madness was, well, his mad-ness: his immense anger, embitterment and hatred toward his father and, eventually, Jews and the world at large.

Well I think that is more than enough to paint the picture. If you want to learn more read the linked articles in full. Or do your own research.

This look at Hitler was prompted by a Sam Harris article on jihadis where he described their core psychology. “They are simply evil.” I wanted to look at the source of that evil and Hitler came to mind as a good example. My long interest in PTSD led me in an obvious direction and at least in Hitler’s case that direction has proved fruitful.

PTSD is given far too little attention. That needs to be corrected.